HARRIET Harman has followed in the footsteps of Ed Miliband today by finally admitting the party would borrow more if they returned to power.

Labour's deputy leader admitted the party would temporarily borrow more if it came to power in the next election.

She told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "Two parts of our five-point plan would involve a reduction in VAT on a temporary basis which would involve a temporary increase in borrowing.

"For part of our programme it would need to be financed by a temporary increase in borrowing for temporary measures.

"Some of it we have showed how we could pay for it - through for example cutting tax relief on pensions - some of it we've thought would be self-financing, others would require initial borrowing."

Ed Miliband was asked 13 times whether he would increase borrowing

A reduction in VAT on a temporary basis which would involve a temporary increase in borrowing

Harriet Harman

Ed Miliband, yesterday, was forced to finally admit that his plans for growth would require extra borrowing after an exhaustive interview recently.

The Labour leader was questioned 13 times over the details of how he would afford policies intended to boost economic growth and a VAT cut.

Mr Miliband avoided directly answering the questions adding: "No, well I would say that we need to get borrowing down. Look what’s happened is that this government came to power and we are borrowing £245 billion more than they said.”

He is still suffering from the memories of the Brown and Blair leaderships which left the country with a mountain of debt.

The leaderships of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair left the country with a mountain of debt

A temporary one-year VAT cut would cost the Treasury about £12 billion but Mr Miliband could not say exactly how this would be funded in the short term in the first of a series of interviews with the party leaders.

Later Mr Miliband was forced to admit that Labour would borrow more.

He said: "That happens – you do some interviews well and some not so well.

"I was asked a question about Labour's plans to cut VAT. I am clear about this – a temporary cut in VAT, as we are proposing, would lead to temporary rise in borrowing."

Mr Cameron speaking on ITV's Daybreak today said that Mr Miliband's comments on borrowing showed that Labour was committed to repeating the policies "that got us into this mess in the first place."

He said: "Most people face a choice either between the Conservatives running their local council or Labour running their local council, and if Labour get in, as we've heard from Miliband over recent days, they believe in more spending, more borrowing, more of the things that got us into this mess in the first place.